


A Spark of Possibility

by Lanerose



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: ...mostly, Campaign 1 (Critical Role), Canon Compliant, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Post-Vecna Arc (Critical Role), Time Travel, post campaign one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-02 02:09:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16296254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lanerose/pseuds/Lanerose
Summary: Vax'ildan arrives into the afterlife.  His mother is not the only one who has been waiting to greet him.Or, a bit on why Vax was so willing to go with the Raven Queen.





	A Spark of Possibility

Elaina’s arms were outstretched and waiting for Vax’ildan the moment he entered the Raven Queen’s portal. He stepped quickly into them, hurrying up to the woman who had raised him and whom he had missed for so long. She was shorter than he remembered – or he was taller – but her arms were just as warm as they had ever been, and the soft scent of lavender still clung to her hair.

“Oh, my darling son, my Vax’ildan,” she said into his shoulder, “I have missed you.”

“We missed you as well, Mother,” Vax said, still clinging to her tightly. He leant down and kissed the top of her head. “Vex’ahlia says hello.”

“Of course she does,” Elaina replied, laughing softly. “I’ve been watching you take care of each other. I’m so proud of you. Of both of you. Let me look at you.”

Elaina leaned back, and Vax relaxed his grip enough to let her. Her eyes drank in the sight of him with a voracious hunger in them, alighting on the little scars years on the road had brought him. She brought her hand to his cheek and pulled his face down so that she could kiss his forehead.

“You’ve grown so handsome,” she said softly.

“And you remain as beautiful as the last day we saw you,” Vax replied.

“Flatterer,” Elaina laughed.

Vax grabbed her arm. “I am – we are – so sorry that we were not there the day that the Cinder King came to –“

Elaina laid a finger definitively across his lips. “Hush now, I’ll none of that. You lived, both of you, and that is what I wanted for both of you.”

“We turned him to ash,” Vax said when Elaina withdrew her hand. “Vex and I, and our friends, we hunted him down and destroyed him.”

“All the more reason to leave it in the past.” She replied. Elaina looked past him, over his shoulder. “Now, who is this lovely young lady you bring with you?”

Vax turned back for the first time since entering the Raven Queen’s dominion. The portal had closed, but his queen had stepped through it herself. She had stood silent, waiting patiently as he greeted his mother, but stepped forward. Vax let go of his mother and stepped closer, taking her hands in his.

“I do not understand how it could be possible that you are who I know you to be, and yet I am as certain as I have ever been of anything that you are the same person you have always been. That you maintain even now the kindness that I have always known to be the heart of you, despite what hardships I know you must have faced.” Vax squeezed her hands, warm in his. “I see the loneliness in your eyes, and I am terrified of what you will tell me about what must come to pass.”

“But even still – “ Vax broke off. “What was it that my sister said to Freddie all those years ago? Darling, take off the mask.”

The Raven Queen reached up and pulled away her ivory mask to reveal the pale, pale skin of a half-elven woman whose name, until recently, had been lost to time. The red has faded from her eyes, however, restoring them to a familiar green that Vax could recognize anywhere.

“There you are, Kiki,” he said, smiling at her.

“It’s been a long time, Vax,” she replied. She smiled back, some of her sadness dropping away. “Far longer for me than for you, I’m afraid, my Chosen.”

“We’ll just have to make up for lost time,” said Vax.

He kissed her, gently. She responded, with a softness to her lips that he would not have thought her capable of before he knew who she was behind her mask, at first, and then deepened the kiss, her tongue flicking across his lips until he responded and she reached into him as if she were reaching into his very soul. Her hands rose into his hair, clutching him to her, drinking him in, and he responded, his hands wrapping around her and holding her as if he would never let her go again, for such was his intention.

They might have stayed that way for days were it not for a soft chuckle behind them.

They broke apart, Vax coughing slightly, and there was a hint of a blush in the Raven Queen’s pale, pale skin. She reached for her mask, then appeared to think better of it, leaving it aside.

“Right,” said Vax, dropping one hand from Keyleth’s back and reaching behind him for his mother. She grasped his hand and let him pull her forward a bit. Vax released his grip on her, stepping forward and turning so that he could wrap his arm around Keyleth’s shoulder, keeping her close beside him.

His mother wore a grin that was far too familiar, for Vex had inherited it precisely as Elaina wore it now.

“Something you need to tell me, my son?” Elaina asked, her eyes sparkling with silent laughter.

“Yes, well, this is Keyleth,” said Vax, “who is also apparently the Raven Queen, I’m not entirely sure how that happened yet but I’m sure the explanation will be fascinating. And if she is still willing to have me after all this time, however long it may have been for her, she is the woman I love and to whom I will be married at the earliest opportunity.”

Keyleth looked up at him sharply. “Vax, you can’t say that without knowing the things I’ve done, the things I had to do –“

“Keyleth –“

They stared at each other for a long, tense moment, neither quite sure where to begin.

“Well,” said Elaina, “There will be time enough to figure that out later. It seems to have been, at a minimum, a very long day for both of you, and some rest before conversation would be wise.”

She turned to the woman with her son and smiled, adding, “As to you, Keyleth, I always said that only the gods would be good enough for my children. I suppose the honor is mine, that they have taken me at my word.”

The Mother of Ravens bowed to her mother-in-law, a smile on her lips. “As one who loves your children, both of them, even if I do love one just a little bit more than the other, believe me. The honor is mine.”

**Author's Note:**

> This story happened because I have a very clear memory of Keyleth calling Percy broken, just as the Raven Queen does, and because the Raven Queen was a mortal who ascended and whose name was lost to time, and then there's Caleb's focus on time in campaign two and well, things just came together. Relatedly, I can't find the clip of the moment Keyleth calls Percy broken, if you know where it is please tell me!
> 
> The title is a reference to Vienna Teng's The Fourth Messenger, specifically to the song Four Messengers. The whole show is about a woman who becomes the Buddha, and that song in particular is about the prophecy of how that's going to happen.
> 
> There might be a sequel to this explaining what happened at some point, but it will be a long time from now if I ever get to it.
> 
> Hope that you enjoyed!


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